NT: Official Personal Finances Thread

[yamcha]

I make happiness and I save moments. Word to life.

 

[af1 1982]

Btw, can we rename this thread to the personal finances thread? I feel like it's so easy to get lost if you don't know what to do with your money

 

[paidnfull23]

I got the saving part down, I need some advice on how to make my money work for me.

Got my money sitting around doing nothing 

 

[DCAllAfrican]

Just graduated but I ran some quick numbers for when I start working in a month:

$65k salary
Roughly $4k a month after taxes
Plan on saving $2.4k in investments
Save whatever I don't spend from my food/spending budget

#HumbleBrag

#ImHereToShowTheWorld

 

[sneaksoy]

@INshoeKid You sound like you have it made. Hope you stick around the thread and help us learn from your successes. Where in the Midwest do you reside now?

af1 1982 Congrats on the graduation and that's a great starting salary! What was your major/what job did you get/where you located?

 

[moderndarwin]

@ModernDarwin
 woah 2600 for rent? Where do you live. If possible try to cut that down to atleast $2000 , personally I wouldn't pay more than $1200/mo on my mortgage/rent. 

From what you are saying you wont have enough to pay all of those bills 5200 after tax will be close to 4000 or less after taxes. You can check out your exact paycheck on a site that calculates your paycheck with taxes and 401K factored in. Here is the link 

Yeah, I will be living in Sf. So, rent for a one bedroom is actually closer to the 3300 or so range. I'm looking at spots on the outskirts and can get it down to 2600 hopefully.

I would be down to share a place but my gf (foreigner won't be able to work right away) is going to move in with me so we need a one bedroom.

It'll definitely be a struggle for a bit until she is able to work.

 

[af1 1982]

#HumbleBrag

#ImHereToShowTheWorld

#ImHereToStealYourGirl

 

[af1 1982]

@INshoeKid You sound like you have it made. Hope you stick around the thread and help us learn from your successes. Where in the Midwest do you reside now?

af1 1982 Congrats on the graduation and that's a great starting salary! What was your major/what job did you get/where you located?

Thank G!

I double majored in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering from PSU.

I landed a rotational engineering job. I'll be at various locations throughout the country for 2 years completing my rotations.

I plan on putting my savings into a Roth IRA. I don't know anything about investments but that was the advice my parents gave me said it was the smart investment to do until I no longer qualify.

I plan on maxing out my 401K to take advantage of the company matching as well.

About to start this personal finances course on iTunes U lets get it

 

[af1 1982]

I got the saving part down, I need some advice on how to make my money work for me.

Got my money sitting around doing nothing 

Put it in appreciable assets. I have a ton of obey saved as well but I'm gonna start in something so that it can grow somewhat instead of sitting in a bank account collecting pennies on interest

 

[timcity2000]

I'd also recommend getting a program / app that lets you see all your assets / debt in one place. I use mint.com but there are several.

 

[capital sb]

af1 1982 Congrats on your starting salary and rotational program. STEM fields allow us to start with high salaries just have to be smart with our money and we will be good.

What locations will you be rotating to? I have a friend in a rotational program and his is already in a management position after only 1 year. The program has given him so much exposure that the CEO knows him by name. I am very interested in rotational programs due the exposure and fast track to executive positions.

My current employer and most govt contractors require a Masters to get into a rotational program, so I will try to get in as soon as I finish my MS.

timcity2000 I agree I use Mint to keep track of my budget and Personal Capital to keep track of my net worth and investments. Wish PC improved their budget features so I can drop Mint.

 

[Kobekobe]

$2500 after tax give or take a few hundred.

Save 1000/month minimum.

 

[timcity2000]

where do y'all park your emergency funds? mine is in a low-interest savings account at the moment... easy to get to obviously.

guessing there are smarter options?

 

[af1 1982]

af1 1982 Congrats on your starting salary and rotational program. STEM fields allow us to start with high salaries just have to be smart with our money and we will be good.

What locations will you be rotating to? I have a friend in a rotational program and his is already in a management position after only 1 year. The program has given him so much exposure that the CEO knows him by name. I am very interested in rotational programs due the exposure and fast track to executive positions.

My current employer and most govt contractors require a Masters to get into a rotational program, so I will try to get in as soon as I finish my MS.

timcity2000 I agree I use Mint to keep track of my budget and Personal Capital to keep track of my net worth and investments. Wish PC improved their budget features so I can drop Mint.

Thanks for the kind words fam! Feels good that the hard work is paying off.

My first rotation will be in NC with various locations in CA, MI, and PA (my home state)

It is a leadership engineering rotational program so they are grooming me to eventually be a manager/director. As long as I perform of course. I know that the hard work is still Ahead of me but I'm glad to be in a position where the opportunities are there for the taking.

My financial mindset is to max out my Roth IRA. My first big purchase will be a car but I want to pay that nearly in full. I'm not in any rush but I'd prefer not to have a car note

 

[af1 1982]

where do y'all park your emergency funds? mine is in a low-interest savings account at the moment... easy to get to obviously.

guessing there are smarter options?

I plan on putting my emergency fund in one of my savings for easy access. How much yall putting in there? I was thinking $5k

 

[timcity2000]

I plan on putting my emergency fund in one of my savings for easy access. How much yall putting in there? I was thinking $5k

"rules of thumb" are all over the place, but i typically see recommendations for 3-6 months of LIVING expenses (i.e. not 3-6 months of salary).

certainly depends on a number of factors... job security being a big one.

 

[mister doitnice]

I pull in about 4.5k monthly, after taxes. I save around 1600 monthly right now. I could save more but I still like to live my life a certain way. That number will be going up in January though because I won't be paying any rent and I'll be selling my car. Going to be in Korea for a year. I really would like to get into investing but I just don't know where to start. I had an opportunity to buy a condo about three years ago. There were these brand new units that were just being built and I knew a few people that were snatching them up. I didn't pull the trigger because I didn't think I would be in the area much longer. Boy was I wrong about that smh.

I don't just don't want to have a ton of cash sitting in a savings account when there is so much more I could be doing with my money. I would like to invest now since I won't really be needing anything when I'm away in Korea. When I come back I can start looking into rental properties. I'm going to take a look at that Vanguard option that was posted before. Keep it up NT! You guys are inspirational. This is a fantastic thread.

 

[getyashinebox]

I think the actual figures aren't that relevant, rather the % relative to Net income.

So that said, about 50% of net goes into savings. I know many will say that keep it in cash is the wrong way to go about it, and I agree somewhat, but the flexibility that a large lump of cash gives does have some value as well, the catch is I need to start doing more research for potential investments. Thinking real estate and/or small business, since prices in the market are too high at the moment. Have a lot of learning to do rearing personal investment, lots of interesting ideas in here.

 

[af1 1982]

I think the thing is to find a happy medium and have a variety. Roth IRA and 401k for the long term investments. Then short term investments. And a lump of savings in a bank account you can pull from at any given moment.

I also plan on looking into mutual funds. I'm not going to be a lazy investor by any means but I do want my money to sit there and appreciate over time without me having to do a lot of work

 

[moderndarwin]

I spent these first 29 years of my life spending money and having way too much fun. This thread really hammers home how much I am now looking forward to the next 30 of my life making money and creating serious wealth.

 

[sneaksoy]

For long-term investments, I would advise contributing enough to your 401k to get your employer match i.e. if your employer will match 50% of the first 10% of your salary (basically 5%, but you have to put in 10% to get the full match) then put in 10%. I would not necessarily max out the $17,500 total you can put in the 401k. With your leftover funds for investment, open a Roth IRA and max out that $5500/yr contribution, allocating your money to a growth mutual fund or two. If you still have remaining funds you'd like to invest for the long-term, open a brokerage account with E-Trade or Scottrade or something similar (I can't speak as to which is best, if anyone else wants to chime in with additional information on brokerage accounts that'd be awesome) and put your remaining money in a Vanguard fund. If you really like to play the markets, you can pick one or two stocks to invest in as you'll already be pretty diversified.

This will give you diversity in your investments along with some liquid savings in the brokerage account which you can pull out at any time since it is not restricted like a retirement plan.

 

[jthagreat]

I plan on putting my emergency fund in one of my savings for easy access. How much yall putting in there? I was thinking $5k

"rules of thumb" are all over the place, but i typically see recommendations for 3-6 months of LIVING expenses (i.e. not 3-6 months of salary).

certainly depends on a number of factors... job security being a big one.

echoing this "rule of thumb as well"

basically your monthly "have to spending" ex. rent/mortgage, food, utilities, etc.

stuff like cable and internet (tho they seem like necessities) are not necessities, and dont have to be counted towards getting your emergency savings up, neither are SHOES! lol

hopefully that makes the emergency savings a lil more obtainable goal for some.

 

[tortuga]

Around $4000 after taxes a month.May not seem like alot, but I also have insurance for me and my kids , vacation savings and a pension that doesn't take away from that $4000.

 

[jthagreat]

Also, another "thing" i would suggest looking into, or the most recent thing i have done is buy index funds.

For those with IRAs (roth for most of us who arent banking like crazy yet is the way to go) yet have no clue what they are doing, I suggest looking into index funds. Index funds allow you to buy a "pull of companies" that is suppose to mirror the stock market.

I would suggest this for all, but i strongly suggest it to those that are beginning (that have at least 2,500 in their IRA, least you can open with) yet don't really know what they are doing. It has low fees, and will hopefully grow as the market grows.


Question, although buying index funds is long term, when or what strategy to you guys use when determining when to pull out? Things go up an down, and this is the long term, but a repeat 2007 is not my thing. ??

 

[legreyfoxx]

damb yall dudes make me feel like a scrub put me on